Sangma asks people to help fight separatists

Shillong, May 3 (IANS) Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma Thursday exhorted people in the three insurgency-hit districts of Garo Hills in the state to come forward and help the government fight separatists.

"The people must engage with the government to ensure peace and development. The guerrillas are not in sync with development, instead are responsible for the state's backwardness," Sangma said after releasing his government's performance "report card" during the past two years tilted "Promises Kept," here at the Yojana Bhavan.

Sangma's call has come at time when the Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA), an outfit demanding separate Garoland state to be carve out of Meghalaya, has forced a 133-hour shutdown in Garo Hills.

Sangma said the government will not treat rebel groups with kid gloves.

He said militancy has been plaguing the state's development for several decades now and the matter has been worsened with the mushrooming of splinter groups.

"Can we make militancy a lucrative venture by engaging in dialogue and negotiations every time a new group mushrooms," the chief minister asked.